May 15th Vogelsong v Miyazaki - Leaving it late

Vogelsong picked up his first win this season. Once again a Carp pitcher faded and couldn't hold a lead after quite a good piece of pitching. Tigers showed their strength and persistence to move 3.5 games ahead of the Dragons for the first time. Line scores

       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Tigers 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 1 5 8 0
Carp   1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 2 5 1

Starting linups

1. Akahoshi (Centre)
2. Hirano (Second)
3. Arai (First)
4. Kanemoto (Left)
5. Katsuragi (Right)
6. Toritani (Short)
7. Noguchi (Catcher)
8. Saka (Third)
9. Vogelsong (Pitcher)

Carp
1. Amaya (Centre)
2. Higashide (Second)
3. Alex (Right)
4. Kurihara (Right)
5. Maeda (Left)
6. Seabol (Third)
7. Ishihara (Catcher)
8. Kokubo (Short)
9. Miyazaki (Pitcher)

Tigers would start with an Akahoshi foul ball. He would be bunted to second by Hirano but neither Arai or Kanemoto would do anything to get him further. Carp would start with a Amaya hit. The next batter, Higashide would fail in his three attempts at bunts and be out. Then Vogelsong threw a pass ball which allowed Amaya to reach third. He had managed to waste all his good work. Next batter Alex had a timely hit and the score was 1-0 Carp. Kurihara also hit and so Carp had runners on first and third with one out. Vogelsong though settled down and got the next two batters to end the innings. Tigers second saw a Noguchi hit but that was all. The Carp's second was likewise quiet. Miyazaki had settled into a nice grove and was retiring batters with ease. The Tigers third flew by and so did the Carp's version, Vogelsong also having settled down. He struck out two in the third, Higashide and Alex.

The Tigers fourth - quiet. The Carp fourth Kurihara hit but Seabol grounded into a double play to end the innings. The Tigers fifth - Noguchi walked but no one did anything to convert him. The Carp fifth quiet. Tigers sixth also quiet but the Carp sixth - a bit of variation. Amaya walked and was bunted to second by Higashide (this time his bunt worked). Alex grounded out but Kurihara walked. Runners on first and third with two out. Next batter Maeda who hit and it was 2-0 Carp. However, Kurihara tried to go too far and was thrown out to end the innings. Miyazaki returned for the seventh having given up only one hit and two walks in the previous six innings. However, he was immediately in trouble. Kanemoto hit and Katsuragi was dead balled. Then Toritani hit - bases loaded no outs. At this point Brown replaced Miyazaki with Umetsu and he faced the hero of the night before, Hiyama (pinch hitter). Hiyama hit a right two base and suddenly the scores were level 2-2 and Tigers had runners on second and third still with no outs. Next batter was the ineffective Saka who continued in the same vein and struck out. Then Fujimoto (pinch hitter) flew out and it began to look like the Carp would get out of the innings without further damage. However, Akahoshi had other ideas and he hit to left driving in another run 3-2 Tigers. The final batter Hirano struck out but Tigers had turned the match around.

Of course Okada would go to the relief team for the Carp seventh but it wasn't Kubota who was on the mound but Watanabe. Okada had rightly decided that Kubota was not a reliable pitcher in this sort of situation and so went with the man who was in better form. Watanabe justified his faith getting all three batters he faced without trouble. In the Tigers eighth Kanemoto hit and Katsuragi grounded out but an error by the Carp short allowed him to reach first safely with Kanemoto on third. Toritani hit a sacrifice fly to centre and it was 4-2 Tigers, a bit of a cushion. Sekimoto (replacement third) had a two base hit putting runners on second and third with two outs but Yano (replacement catcher) struck out to end the innings. Next pitcher for the Tigers was Williams, Brown had orignially intended him to face Morikasa (pinch hitter) as leadoff but changed it to Soyogi (replacement short). It didn't matter as Williams struck him out anyway. The next two batters also followed in short order to end the innings. Kozlowski took the Tigers ninth. He got the first batter, Baldris but then Akahoshi walked. Next Hirano bunted him to second and then Arai hit driving Akahoshi in 5-2 Tigers. Kanemoto flew out to end the innings. Fujikawa took the Carp ninth and retired the three batters he faced for his 15th save and the Tigers victory.

A very good Tigers victory. At 2-0 Carp had looked in control but later it seemed that they had nothing left. When Tigers upped the pace Carp could not match it and gradually fell behind. Okada showed good sense benching Kubota and using Watanabe. He still has a bit of a way to go but is developing into a fine relief pitcher. Arai continued getting over his reticence in hitting against his old side.